Explore Classes & CONN-100 courses

Welcome! We are delighted that you will be joining us in the fall. We think you will find University of Puget Sound an intellectually stimulating and exciting place to be. Use the pages in this section of the Welcome Website to learn more about your first semester courses, including your required advising class and Connections 100- level course*. Note: some advising courses are CONN 100-level courses, meaning both requirements are met with one course.

Once you accept your offer of admission and make your Advance Tuition Payment, the Advising Placement Questionnaire (APQ), a key tool used to generate your fall class schedule, will become available on your myPugetSound. The APQ will help you identify and prioritize topics that interest you and help you select classes for your first semester at Puget Sound. All students meet with their advisors during Passages to review schedules and adjust, if needed.

All students must complete the APQ, as your responses are used to generate your fall schedule and are shared with your academic and peer advisors to help them get to know you a bit before meeting you during Passages week. At that time, you and your advisors will review your fall schedule and adjust, if needed. Please complete the APQ by June 15. Fall course schedules will go live by July 21.

Need help completing your APQ? Check out the APQ Basics Video for details.

First-Year Students - Advising and the APQ

To help you get off to the best start possible, we have developed a comprehensive First-Year Academic Advising Program that will place you in a first-year advising group for fall term. Our advising classes are introductory and designed for any well-prepared entering student. Because they cover a wide range of topics, you should be able to find one that particularly interests you.

As you begin your work on the college’s core requirements, you will also be enrolling in the first of two first-year seminars. In the Seminar in Scholarly Inquiry I (SSI-1), students engage challenging texts and ideas through guided inquiry led by the faculty member. Students begin to develop the academic abilities of reading, writing, and oral argument necessary to enter into academic conversations. These seminars are offered in a variety of disciplines addressing a variety of topics. Both seminars are limited in size to give you and your classmates the chance to be fully engaged in classroom dialogue. Upon successful completion of your SSI-1, you will take SSI-2 in the spring.

Advising Placement Questionnaire

Before we can place you in the most appropriate advising group, CONN 100 course, and remaining courses, we need to know your preferences and interests. The FAQ and First-Year Advising pages address common advising questions and will help you explore and preview your options. The Advising Placement Questionnaire (APQ) is an important tool to help you plan your tentative fall schedule, and is available on your myPugetSound account. From your To Do List items on myPugetSound, click on “Advising Placement Questions” to complete the questionnaire and indicate your advising class and CONN 100-level course preferences. After ranking those two types of course, the questionnaire will continue to collect your interests -- academic and co-curricular -- and be used to create your fall course schedule. Please be aware that preferred advising classes and CONN 100 courses will fill rapidly, so we recommend that your respond promptly. Please read the FAQ section of the main academic advising Web site before completing your questionnaire.

Check out this short video for additional support for completing your APQ; a critical documented used to generate your tentative fall schedule.  

Transfer Students - Advising & Registration

For all entering transfer students with college experience and credit, we offer a streamlined pathway to an academic advising assignment and registration for fall classes.

Advisor Assignment

When you applied for admission, you gave us some indication of your intended academic major (if you have chosen one). We will assign you a faculty advisor in the department of your intended major (often the chair) if you have chosen one; if you are undecided, we will assign you an advisor in the Office of Academic Advising. You will also be assigned a peer advisor for the year. Be sure to respond to their outreach as they are here to ensure you get connected to campus and meet your academic goals. You will receive a letter soon after you have submitted your advanced tuition payment naming your academic advisor and peer advisor, giving you their contact information.

Registration

You and your academic advisor will meet in person, on Zoom, or over the telephone to complete your first registration for classes at Puget Sound. Your peer advisor is here to also support you with this process. You and your advisors will discuss the academic credit you are bringing with you, how that credit applies to Puget Sound core and major requirements, and decide on a fall class schedule. Once you and your academic advisor have settled on an appropriate fall schedule, they will remove your registration hold which will allow you to use myPugetSound to register for your classes. Your peer advisor is a great help with this next phase of getting registered as they are a current student, with either junior or senior standing and are well-versed in academic policy and procedure and know the registration system inside and out. 

Visit our Transfer student FAQ pages for more information to support your journey to the Sound.